For me it's when he dribbles the ball towards the 3 point line bringing it up. I groan knowing he's about to launch an ill advised 3 just because he feels he hasn't got a shot up lately.
Dracari dominates Summer League and Pre-season, when it comes to serious competition/ good opponents he goes into Mr. Inconsistent Mode.
Just like Sengun is not a PF.... Jabari is not a SG/SF... Ausar is probably the 2nd fastest player in the entire NBA after Amen... It's not an average night... The offense is position-less these days but you still have to defend whatever the other team puts out there and these guys are guarding smaller guys than they should be guarding right now. You MUST assume that you're going to give up a little lateral quickness in exchange for these all-important rebounds Ime is chasing. There's always a trade off. Jabari is going to be a key piece this season, he just has to stop dribbling so much and see that there's 10 3PA's with his name on it in this offense. We lost our two biggest 3PA guys in FVV and Jalen (16+ attempts between them), while Durant doesn't like to take more than 6-7 a game and Amen is 1-2 attempts. It is time for him to deliver a 38%+ season from 3PT range. No more excuses on that. That is the core skill we invested in along with defense. It's time to prioritize it over the handle - whatever he works on he needs to work on it some more in practice before bringing it to the game. He'll be fine. It's just the offense is clunky right now. Jabari will have a big season.
I hate seeing him shoot a fadeaway over a guard. I wish he used his strength on guards to get position for strong finishes.
I think moving Jabari to the bench might be the best thing for him, but Tari playing like he left his head in the locker room and Reed's slow start has doomed the idea. Maybe they could start Okogie, who was the only guard on the court starting the 2nd half against the Pistons when the Rockets made a run. My previous belief that either Amen or Reed had to be on the court at any time was false. Will all know Ime will be very patient and his first move would be to reduce Jabari's minutes. Playing him 40 mins against the Pistons was insane.
Before the injuries I said DFS should be the 5th starter instead of JSJ (Sengun-KD-DFS-Amen-FVV), let Jabari backs up KD as the 1st option on 2nd unit. the 1st unit has enough fire power and has no role for JSJ (he'll just force a shot up whenever he feels it's his term and needs to take a shot) but he'll shine on the 2nd unit and that's what this team needs. I hope Rafael can find a pg soon. Alpy and KD are both great passer, they're scorers with great vision that can throw the last pass to assist an open teammate. but a true pg do more than that. we need a pg who can plan to initiate an offense, knows where to go the first pass, get the ball to the hot hand, knows where to get his teammates into their comfort zone, finding the mismatch, control the tempo. a lot of time you see Sheppard struggled to put the ball in KD's hands, and alot of time KD just forced his way to get the shot up from tough angle, making shots only based on his height/shooting talent, Jabari does the same but not as good as KD to make the tough shots. this was the Suns problem last season, Booker/Beal/KD all good passers but they didn't have the pg to do the true pg jobs for them, i hope Rafael don't make the same mistake.
Jabari always starts slow. He needs a long time to get hot. He'll probably begin to heat up around mid-November.
Stop it guys, there's just too many people in the paint so his shots are going to be jumpers or contested 2's. It's putting so much pressure on his handle and defense that he's essentially guarding/attacking SG's and SF's full time. That means a lot of inconsistency. Once the Adams experiment is over and Jabari is at the 4, he's going to explode. Honestly even if Reed is not ready to be a starter, at least put Holiday in there for now. We can absorb a little defensive downgrade if the offense is going to be smoother for all the scorers. Defensively: Sengun Durant Jabari Amen Holiday The offense would be humming imo. Holiday knows the coach. Might not be a creative passer, but doesn't turn it over much, has safe hands. Then Ime can harp on and one about defense and rebounding and it would be helpful. Can limit Holiday to 20 minutes if the defense is not holding up. I think that's a better way to go.
You hit the nail on the head. The two big lineup puts everybody out of position on defense except Adams who is a poor defensive player. It's ok situationally, but Ime needs to back off of it. If he doesn't trust Reed to start, he needs to start Okogie. Our offense hasn't been good, but has been our defense that has regressed most dramatically. It is just 2 games though.
Jabari Smith consistently misses wide ass open jumpers & can never hit 2 or 3 in a row this has been ongoing. He still cant post up guys to get to that middy. Offensive bag is non existent which is very disappointing. His help defense is stellar & his rebounding is good but is that justified being a starter.
Josh Giddey traded for Alex Caruso About to happen this Trade Deadline Tari Eason is on the Trade Block Next Year Jabari Smith. Can't trade him because of recently resigned deal.
I thought he played well in the playoffs and I am a believer. He may not ever be an all star but he is a good player that is getting better. I wish he would hit the boards harder because he is presence down there when he is motivated.
Pretty sure Jabari spent the offseason living in the weight room, dude looks noticeably more jacked. But I’m starting to wonder if all that muscle came at the cost of his shooting touch. He looked better during the playoffs, so maybe this “Brickari” phase is just a temporary side effect of the gains. I’m not jumping ship yet, he’s still young, and that combination of size, versatility, and defensive upside is rare. But if there’s a chance to flip Tari, Bari, and Capela for a legit star, I’d at least pick up the phone. Still, I’d give it another 20 games before making any major calls.
I was down on Jabari last season and the year before. He’s a slow starter. I still think he’s a spot up shooter aka Robert horry is his ceiling. But he’ll come into form after a month or two
Well we're gonna use that lineup alot in RS and the playoffs, going big is our advantage and teams will have to matchup to it. Ime is just trying to get that lineup to play together in the beginning of the season, while everyone is fresh. No way Adams is gonna start the whole season nor is gonna play 30+ minutes. He's a backup with 20-25 minutes per game. So y'all need to chill the f out, Ime is playing chess.
Jabari is the dude other teams put their weakest defender on to hide and also the dude we have to hide. It’s a rare achievement, rookie Josh Giddey stuff. He’ll be fine in regular season, have his moments offensively but he’s going to cost us a series at some point. Imagine the LA teams, take a wild guess who Luka Doncic and James Harden will be hiding on defensively and then hunting out to smoke on ISOs. he’s a fine mid level power forward, John Collins/Santi Aldama type guy. Good backup, bad starter. Way too much time and resources spent on him.
I have been down on Jabari relative to consensus ever since his rookie year. But I will say the more I watch the Rockets offense the more I feel they are doing him zero favors on development. The team's decision to bring in exactly one real PG (FVV) for the duration of this entire rebuild makes it very hard for young players to develop properly. And Jabari's limitations meant he's more susceptible to not having good playmakers to help set him up for good shots. I mean in the end there's not much the team can do now. And the only hope is that the players on the roster "figure things out."
